A Second Chance
by Joak Drysso
Summary: Signum muses on the path that led her to where she was at the beginning of A's. Funky Signum theory included. Some swearing, violent imagery. EDIT: Credit given where credit is due. Sorry for taking so long.


A Second Chance

A Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's fic by

Joak Drysso

Boring Disclaimer: I hate writing these. I don't own Nanoha.

A/N: It was pointed out to me that this theory belongs to an Anonymous of 4Chan, and I wish to extend my apologies for not giving credit where credit is due. The theory was copypasta'd to me by a friend and I didn't think to actually ask for a source before going right to work on this little bit. Thus, I wish to establish that the theory is not mine, but the story is.

---

A small fire burned about a quarter mile from the bunker. A woman rested there, watching the fire burn, listening to the crackle of the wood. She held her hand out, and let the fire kiss it for a moment – she pulled it back, relishing in the brief bit of warmth it provided. It wasn't that the planet's temperature was cold – she just preferred heat. Cold always made her think of the past. She never liked doing that.

"General Signum, a moment of your time?"

The woman lifted her head up, and looked at the soldier that approached. He was young and new – exactly the kind of soldier Signum hated seeing in the battlefield. With a reluctant sigh, the woman forced herself to stand. "What is it, soldier?"

"The Time-Space Administration Bureau has agreed to temporarily cease hostilities with us, on the condition that you consent to meeting with their leader to discuss the permanent cease-fire."

"Tell them that I accept, then."

"Begging the general's pardon, but, uh, it seems that they want _you_ to say it."

Signum sighed. "Very well." She turned and walked over to the fire, picking up a dish of water and pouring it, extinguishing the light and sending a burst of steam up. Retrieving the sheathed blade that rested nearby, she turned to the soldier. "Lead on, then." With a sharp salute, the man turned and began walking back.

---

"We too grow weary of war," Chrono Halloun spoke over the communications link. "Therefore, with your presence, we hope to finally put an end to this conflict."

Signum regarded the face before her. She knew Chrono Halloun as well as he did her – although he didn't realize it. She had known him since her childhood, actually. He had saved her on several occasions. The fact that he didn't recognize her baffled her still, but such considerations were not the primary purpose of the TSAB. To her, they were a machine built for war and destruction – one that would inevitably have to be removed completely to make every planet safe.

Still, she had more pressing matters to attend to before she could consider such lofty goals. "Understood. We will meet on neutral ground to discuss the terms of the peace agreement. I'm glad that the Time-Space Administration Bureau is as exhausted by this as we are." She flashed a rare smile – dazzling in its beauty and effectiveness – and absentmindedly flicked the switch, terminating the communications link. For a moment, she studied herself in the screen's reflection.

She touched her hair. When she had been young, it had been red. As she had grown, so too had her exhaustion – now her hair was faded to a reddish-pink tone. This had earned her the nickname "Crimson Devil" amongst the TSAB forces, and the name had even spread to her own. She struggled for a moment, trying to remember how it had happened.

Ah, yes. One of the few memories of the past _not_ wrought with agony.

---

The kodachi hadn't been Signum's favorite weapon, but it was what her brother and father were the most proficient with, so she had learned it. Her personal favorite was the bastard sword – there were a lot of options for combat with it, and it was aesthetically pleasing to her.

So when she presented herself on the battlefield, she usually had both. This was one of those times. The teen clenched her fists, and the ring on her right hand pulsed with light. The magical energy she had discovered entirely by chance fluctuated, and through the ring it channeled her powers into flight. She hovered above the ground, watching the skies. The soldiers around her looked at her bewildered – they knew that the _enemy_ had mages, but not that one of their own had that strange gift. Some were frightened – others felt bolstered knowing that someone could truly fight the enemy.

Sure enough, the first ranks descended from the skies, and a sheet of anti-air fire converged on them. Most of them remained unharmed – one took a rather particularly powerful barrage head-on, piercing the protective barrier and soon enough his body. The corpse began to free-fall. That seemed the cue for the counterattack.

From beyond the clouds a return barrage fired, powerful lasers liquefying anything caught in them. A group of soldiers near Signum started to scatter before the pillar of scarlet energy hit. Then the mages loosed their own attacks – Signum smirked as she noted the majority were aimed directly at her. She crouched for a moment, and then pushed off the air, launching herself directly at the incoming magical artillery.

The first to reach her were a barrage of weaker shots intended to batter her protection spells – they weren't aware Signum didn't _have_ any, but fast as they were, Signum was used to this kind of pattern. She weaved through them without issue, coming face to face with the second, and probably the strongest of the spells she would be faced with. She could have easily dodged this one, but the damage it would do to the forces beneath her – what was left of them after that first barrage, at least, was incalculable. She didn't have much of a choice.

The twin kodachi slid from their sheathes, and she continued her charge. "_Panzer Geist._" The two blades shimmered now, coated in magical energy designed to protect them from attacks – she never used it like it was supposed to.

She led with her right, striking the tip of the projectile. The _Panzer Geist_ did its job, the sword did not shatter on impact.

In fact, the weapon seemed to be actually carving into the spell. Then, Signum truly began to work her own particular magic. A flurry of strikes disrupted the magical flow of the spell, and it soon died with a burst.

For a moment, the mages thought they had won.

Then she came charging out of the cloud of smoke.

Her first Enforcer victim. Killed when the kodachi blade burst through his barrier and sank into his skull.

Her second Enforcer victim. Killed by a thrust to the heart, a quick, clean kill.

Her third Enforcer victim. Killed when Signum retrieved her weapons and stabbed through his neck and heart.

Her fourth Enforcer victim. Bisected at the chest by Signum's bastard sword while the three others had just begun to feel the influence of gravity.

Signum turned and pulled the two blades out of the third Enforcer's corpse, kicking the body away. Sheathing them, she looked up at the skies. "Really. Is this all they can offer?"

She propelled herself skyward again, passing through the clouds. She knew that in another minute the battleship that had entered the atmosphere to loose its barrages and deploy its troops would have finished charging the cannons for a second shot. This army would not survive that.

She entered a third cloud, and with a sharp inhale suddenly spun her hips, bringing the sword across her midsection. She was greeted with the grotesque sound of metal tearing through body, and knew in an instant that some unfortunate soul on their way down to fight had just been killed for choosing the wrong path.

She chose not to let it bother her.

She shot through the last cloud separating her and the ship she knew as the _Arcanum_. She had even served on it during her brief stint as an Enforcer.

And now she was going to destroy it.

---

Signum allowed herself a rare smile. She had won, of course. She knew the ship's schematics from both her service and the intelligence – it had been a simple matter of vaporizing the hull to gain access. Inside, she was free to wreak her havoc. Weapons systems, shields, engines, everything she had access to she destroyed.

Almost as a passing thought, she wondered what Fate would have thought of this. A memory came unbidden – _a young blonde girl screaming in terror as the reality around her was ripped asunder_ – and she felt sick to her stomach. "Excuse me. I'll be leaving now." Not waiting for a response, she rose from her chair and left, leaving a disquieted command room behind her.

Once again outside, she ran a hand through her hair. Looking up to the night sky, she allowed a moment to breathe, trying to quell the nausea again. _That's…how this all happened. That's why I am who I am, where I am…why I am._

_But am I enough?_ With Levantine by her side, she had thought so. Even before she had received the Demon Blade from the Book of Darkness in exchange for her service as a Guardian Knight, she had been a terror to the TSAB. Armed with the Belka-type armed device, however, she seemed nigh unstoppable. But for one weapon. The _Arc-en-Ciel_, the weapon that the _Asura_ had equipped. The weapon that was able to destroy entire planets in single shots.

_I have to beat that. I have to beat Chrono…can I really do that?_

And at long last, she began to explore her memories.

The screams echoing in her mind, the screams of Fate Testarossa as the Garden of Time collapsed around her. The first girl she had been unable to save. It had been hard on her – she had finally made a new friend, and then in the chaos had lost her almost immediately. It was a kind of survivor's guilt, but the cut went deeper than that.

That was not, however, the end of the sordid string of deaths.

Fate's screams were joined by a chorus. These were the _Wolkenritter_, Hayate's Cloud Knights. Signum paused for a moment, trying to recall. There had been…three. A young hotheaded girl with a hammer…an older woman who avoided direct confrontation as much as possible…and a familiar, kind of like Arf had been to Fate.

And then there was Hayate herself. Signum shivered. Her screams joined the rest. She had been forced to watch as Hayate was frozen by Chrono. Hayate had not protested, merely wept and screamed for her friends and knights. And she had not been able to do anything but let Chrono freeze Hayate. Her hands clenched into fists.

That had been the start of it.

Shortly afterward, she had become an Enforcer. She took her first real life at age 14. Plagued by memories of Fate and Hayate, and horrified of the blood on her hands, she resigned from the TSAB and returned home.

This was when she first started having difficulty using Raising Heart. Spells took more energy to cast, had a more harrowing effect on her body. Soon, even possessing it was straining her body – it was how her hair had faded to the color it was now. She returned the item to Yuuno, who had taken pity on her and given her the ring she had now as a basic magical storage device.

By the time she was halfway into her fifteenth year, the lessons of her father and brother had paid off – she was equal with the kodachi. She had also begun research on techniques with which to use the hand-and-a-half sword.

At 16, she left her home. Adopting the name Signum, she went from planet to planet, helping those in need, saving them from a terrorizing TSAB. That was when her first _real_ battle against the TSAB had occurred – that was when she destroyed the battleship _Arcanum_ and gained the nickname "Crimson Devil".

The most powerful day of her life had occurred just before her twenty-first birthday. In a stunning display, the Time-Space Administration Bureau had used the _Arc-en-Ciel_ on a planet. It was obliterated, with everyone on it.

That was when several worlds declared war on the TSAB, and when Signum became a true legend. She had led the united armies against the TSAB forces in a crusade that she knew was destined to fail. Hope seemed so bleak when a dimensional rift opened before her, revealing to her the Book of Darkness that Chrono and the others had sealed. She pledged her service in exchange for some method of emerging victorious.

She was granted Levantine, and with it she led the united forces to victory after victory. However, she learned soon enough that Chrono was in command of the fleet. Not wanting to lose another friend, she had arranged for this cease-fire. And now her plans were about to come to fruition. There would be peace again. She wouldn't have to be responsible for a third friend's death.

Calm now, she stepped back into the base to begin preparations for the meeting.

---

Signum entered the clearing at a leisurely pace, her two bodyguards accompanying her. From the opposite side, Chrono Halloun emerged, guarded by his own pair of guards. They took a moment to look at each other. Signum was amazed at how much Chrono had grown – Chrono was acting like he was seeing her for the first time. Idly, Signum wondered if Chrono did not recognize her. But she didn't say anything. That wasn't the purpose of this.

"So, I presume you have decided on your terms?" She offered, trying to break the uncomfortable silence. Chrono nodded. He extended one arm, containing a scroll, and with the other, pulled the warrant down. "Crimson Devil Signum, you are wanted by the Time-Space Administration Bureau for high treason and murder. You will come with us."

As he finished, before Signum or her bodyguards could react, a group of eight hidden mages released their spells. Signum's bodyguards were killed instantly. "What - you lying son of a bitch!" She swore at Chrono, who merely shrugged.

"I don't need to concern myself with your problems. You will come with us. Now." The ten guards present raised their hands, and the magical shackles that had been laid out in advance rose and clasped her, forcing her rigid.

"Chrono, don't you remember who I a-" Her desperate plea was cut short as one of the mages knocked her unconscious.

"Thank you. Let's go." As one, the mages and their captive teleported from the clearing, back to the ship _Asura_.

---

"Ah, the Crimson Devil awakens." Signum blinked a few times as she woke. Her body was rigid, refused to obey commands, and then she could feel the magical shackles binding her.

"You betrayed your word."

"I did. My job is to ensure that the Time-Space Administration Bureau wins. Not some ragtag alliance of rebellious worlds." Chrono's words were cold. He had changed a great deal.

"Now. You can use your legs. Rise, and follow me. I have something to show you." Chrono did not wait for her, but immediately started walking. Signum, confused, forced herself up and stumbled after him.

Soon, they were on the _Asura's_ bridge. Several members of the staffing crew shot amazed looks at Signum, unable to believe that the Crimson Devil herself was bound before them. Outside the viewport was the world she had been on before the kidnapping. She could already pinpoint the locations of seven different bunkers simply from geographical familiarity.

"What do you have to show me?"

"The destruction of the last hope you had of winning." Chrono turned to the gunnery captain. "Prepare to fire the _Arc-en-Ciel._"

Chrono had not exactly expected Signum to attack him. She still could not free her arms, but her legs were more than strong enough to drive her into Chrono, checking him to the floor. She raised her leg to strike at his head when she suddenly felt something press into the small of her back, and suddenly her nerves flared up in pain as the stun weapon discharged into her. She nearly immediately collapsed, but was caught by the man who had pressed it. Chrono gave her a cold look as he rose from the floor.

"That act of defiance will be your last, I assure you." He walked over to the console and inserted the key.

The _Arc-en-Ciel _discharged.

The planet disappeared.

Signum, who could only watch, tried to scream, but her body betrayed her.

"Take her back to her cell. She will be executed in a day."

---

In the end, it was a fairly old-fashioned execution. She had been forced to stand, blindfolded, her arms bound behind her back, as a member of the executioner squad leveled a pistol at her. She could have resisted, but at this point it was mentally impossible for her. Everything she had worked for, undone in a single moment. She welcomed this.

_Your part in this tale is not done._

Signum looked up.

_You promised your service. I call upon you to fulfill this oath._

Signum's head fell. "I am worth nothing now."

Chrono blinked.

_You are powerful. You will recover your confidence. You will come with me."_

Signum finally nodded. "Very well."

In the instant between the shot being fired and the bullet drilling into her and killing her, the Book of Darkness stole her essence from her body, encoding her into the book.

---

Now, Signum looked down on the sleeping Uminari City. In the streets below, Vita, the youngest _Wolkenritter_, pursued her enemy, a young mage. Signum had been too busy assessing the city to notice who exactly it was Vita was fighting. When she did, though, she suddenly inhaled.

Down there, on the street, engaging Vita with her very best, was Takamachi Nanoha, nine years old. For a moment, Signum refused to believe that this was actually happening. How could _she_ be down there…

_Perhaps…this is a chance. A chance to keep this from happening to her._ Signum smiled. _Yes. I can prevent this tragedy from ever happening again. Sorry, Nanoha. But I have to kill you._

The elder Takamachi Nanoha, now Crimson Devil Signum, leader of the _Wolkenritter_, looked down, as Vita's Missile Hammer connected, throwing the young Takamachi Nanoha into a nearby building. She remembered this – Yuuno would show up, and force Vita back.

What she did not expect, what shocked her to the core, was that it was not Yuuno that gave chase to Vita as she retreated.

A young blonde girl, wielding a sleek scythe-like magical device, pursued the child. Locked in combat, the girl was joined by another form. Signum recognized this as a familiar. Instinctively, she raced towards Vita. She could not stand by while her ally was being attacked.

If this was Fate…if this was truly Fate, then perhaps this Nanoha would not follow the same path she had. But she could not leave that up to chance.

_Nanoha…show me that your reality is stronger!_


End file.
